Americas

2014

Mexico City, August 4, 2014--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the attack on Saturday on community radio station director Indalecio Benítez that resulted in the death of his 12-year-old son.

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Mexico City, August 4, 2014--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the state congress in Sinaloa to repeal a law passed on Wednesday that would severely restrict the ability of the press to report on crime scenes and criminal investigations. Local congressmen presented a bill on Friday that would repeal the law, according to an official statement. As the congress is in recess, the bill will not be voted upon until August 21, the statement said.

Top African and U.S. leaders are meeting next week in Washington in a first-of-its-kind summit focused on African development. But critics argue the summit is flawed in design, overlooking human rights such as freedom of expression and barring civil society actors from bilateral discussions.

On Sunday, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration announced a new policy requiring that travelers to the United States turn on their devices at the request of airport security personnel. Devices that cannot be powered on will be barred from the aircraft, and passengers in possession of such devices may also be subjected to additional screening. While a number of commenters have lamented the policy change on the grounds that it is likely to cause confusion and otherwise inconvenience passengers, the move could also aggravate the risks journalists already face when traveling with sensitive materials such as notes, unpublished photographs, or information about sources.

Called to testify before a government media oversight commission, editorial cartoonist Xavier Bonilla--known by his penname Bonil--showed up with a pair of four-foot-long mock pencils. But rather than having a small eraser on the tip, one of Bonil's giant pencils was nearly all eraser.

San Francisco, June 25, 2014--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today's unanimous ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that held that law enforcement officials need search warrants to search the mobile phones of individuals they arrest. The court found that the data found in cellphones should be protected from routine inspection, news reports said.

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New York, June 24, 2014--Authorities in Paraguay should carry out an efficient investigation into the murder of a radio host and lawyer on Thursday, establish a motive, and bring the perpetrators to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.